1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an out the front assisted knife, especially to an out the front assisted knife that has a secondary pusher that assists the user to extend the blade out more securely.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
An out the front assisted knife (OTF assisted knife) has a blade that has to be pushed for a distance manually and then a resilient element takes over and extends the blade out the front of the knife. A conventional OTF assisted knife comprises a casing, a blade, a pusher, an engager and a spring. The casing has an inner space and an opening. The blade is moveably mounted in the casing. An outer end of the blade selectively protrudes out of the opening of the casing. The pusher is moveably mounted on an outer wall of the casing, and is connected to an inner end of the blade. The engager is moveably mounted in the casing, and is connected pivotally to the inner end of the blade. The spring is mounted in the casing. One of two ends of the spring is connected to the casing and is adjacent to the opening of the casing. The other end of the spring is connected to the engager.
When not in use, the blade is fully retracted in the casing, and the engager is rotated by the spring to engage with an inner wall of the casing.
To extend the blade, a user pushes the pusher to move the blade. The movement of the blade makes the engager resist the spring and gradually rotate in a reverse direction. After the user moves the blade for a distance, the engager departs from and no longer engages with the inner wall of the casing because of reverse rotation. Then, the spring pushes the blade out of the opening of the casing rapidly without obstruction, and the extending of the blade is accomplished.
To retract the blade, the user pulls the pusher, which is moved adjacent to the opening of the casing, back to an inner end of the casing. Then, the engager rotates and engages with the inner wall of the casing again, and the blade is fully retracted and fixed in the casing again.
However, the conventional OTF assisted knife has the following shortcomings. The pusher is disposed adjacent to the inner end of the casing, such that the user can only grip the inner end of the casing and cannot hold the knife by the center of gravity of the knife when extending the blade and pressing the thumb on the pusher. Thus, the user may have difficulty controlling the knife to extend the blade out. Besides, the knife, which is not held firmly, may drop from the hand because of the shock generated when the blade is pushed out and hits an outer end of the casing. The blade of the dropping knife already extends out of the casing and may harm the user.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an out the front assisted knife to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.